organization:egypt parliament

Egypt Parliament in haste to approve cybercrime bill: Ambiguous provisions, loose definitions, legalized web censorship |

MadaMasr
►https://www.madamasr.com/en/2018/03/14/feature/politics/parliament-in-haste-to-approve-cybercrime-bill-ambiguous-provisions-loose-

In a whirlwind Tuesday meeting attended by a bevy of state officials, 14 articles of the cybercrime prevention bill were approved by Parliament’s Communications and Information Technology Committee (CITC) in a span of two hours.

The government-drafted bill, which is composed of 45 articles and includes 29 penalties sentencing offenders to up to five years in prison or fines of between LE,10,000 and LE20 million, was referred by the legislature’s speaker to the committee early this month and has largely been approved in principle.

The bill’s significance stems from the fact that, in the event that it is passed, it would be the first piece of legislation to regulate what is published on social media and establish principles to confront cybercrimes such as piracy and the hacking of private and government websites. Most importantly, the bill would set a precedent in regulating web censorship.

The gap in opinion between detractors and proponents of the bill does not center so much on whether cybercrime legislation is necessary, however, but on protection of data and the broad leeway the legislation would grant to authorities to place limitations on liberty.

For Ghada Moussa, the Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform Ministry’s transparency committee secretary general, there certainly is a need for a cybercrime law. But such a law, in her estimation, can only be part of a legislative package whose primary concern would be to make information available, with the identification of confidential information and regulation and protection thereof as a second priority, appended by a law to set exceptions and outline crimes.

Egypt Parliament in haste to approve cybercrime bill: Ambiguous provisions, loose definitions, legalized web censorship |

MadaMasr
►https://www.madamasr.com/en/2018/03/14/feature/politics/parliament-in-haste-to-approve-cybercrime-bill-ambiguous-provisions-loose-

In a whirlwind Tuesday meeting attended by a bevy of state officials, 14 articles of the cybercrime prevention bill were approved by Parliament’s Communications and Information Technology Committee (CITC) in a span of two hours.

The government-drafted bill, which is composed of 45 articles and includes 29 penalties sentencing offenders to up to five years in prison or fines of between LE,10,000 and LE20 million, was referred by the legislature’s speaker to the committee early this month and has largely been approved in principle.

The bill’s significance stems from the fact that, in the event that it is passed, it would be the first piece of legislation to regulate what is published on social media and establish principles to confront cybercrimes such as piracy and the hacking of private and government websites. Most importantly, the bill would set a precedent in regulating web censorship.

The gap in opinion between detractors and proponents of the bill does not center so much on whether cybercrime legislation is necessary, however, but on protection of data and the broad leeway the legislation would grant to authorities to place limitations on liberty.

For Ghada Moussa, the Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform Ministry’s transparency committee secretary general, there certainly is a need for a cybercrime law. But such a law, in her estimation, can only be part of a legislative package whose primary concern would be to make information available, with the identification of confidential information and regulation and protection thereof as a second priority, appended by a law to set exceptions and outline crimes.

Tamarod to begin election rallies for Egypt parliament seats after Eid - Ahram Online
▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/83958.aspx

Egypt’s Tamarod (Rebel) movement has announced it will begin holding election rallies after the week-long Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, which begins on Tuesday.

It has also dismissed rumours it will cooperate with Mubarak-regime figures in their election campaigns.

“Tamarod seeks to establish a large electoral coalition which will reflect the hopes of Egyptians [who demonstrated on] 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2013,” the group’s co-founder Hassan Shahin told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Sunday.

The group announced last week it would contest upcoming parliamentary elections in all districts.

Egypt parliament approves Islamic bond law

▻http://www.alarabiya.net/en/business/2013/03/19/Egypt-parliament-approves-Islamic-bond-law.html

Egypt’s parliament approved on Tuesday a law allowing the issuance of Islamic bonds which could provide the heavily-indebted government with a new form of finance.
(...)
Finance Minister Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegazy said last month that Egypt could raise around $10 billion a year from the sukuk market - much more than some analysts expect - but added that it would take at least three months to push through the necessary regulations.

Egypt has never issued a sovereign sukuk. An international issue would help the government replenish its dangerously low foreign currency reserves which dropped to the critical level$13.5 billion in February.

The upper house voted against a demand from the Nour Party, Egypt’s main hardline Islamist group, that the law should be approved by scholars at Al-Azhar, a religious institution which should be consulted on matters related to Islamic law according to a new constitution.
(...)
Food supply is a politically-sensitive issue in Egypt, where rising prices are being passed on to struggling consumers and shortages have provoked unrest in the past. Curbs on bread subsidies triggered bread riots in 1977.

#Egypt #economy #sukuk